Festival Review: Showbam-A-Rama at The Airliner in Los Angeles

Showbams presented the first annual Showbam-A-Rama June 2, featuring nine various up and coming bands in the Southern California area at The Airliner. View set recaps and photos below.

Starting things off with a bang on the Hoe Down stage was Chop Surf, who brought in bassist Ryan Jeffs, which really complimented Paul Caruso on Drums. Their set was filled with high energy surf rock complete with swaying guitar riffs by Ryan Lynch. Jeffs and Lynch even traded instruments for the last song of their set, which showcased their wide range of musical ability.

Meanwhile upstairs at the Giddy Up stage, Spoh was absolutely killing their set of improv infused jazz that had the crowd gyrating early in the night. Second song in they busted out Phish’s “Julius”, which showed Stew Phillips’ lead guitar work à la Trey Anastasio. They closed their set with a jazzed out version of The Meters’ “Cissy Strut” that had this New Orleans music fan feeling it!

Grizwald came into the Airliner and turned many heads with his one man band that was full of looping drumbeats and well executed synth jams. Showbams will be keeping a watchful eye on Grizwald.

By the time I got upstairs to check out Chief, brothers Danny and Michael Fujikawa had already taken their shirts off, so I knew they were down to business. They tore through their set with mighty angst and the crowd ate it up! Chief knows how to harmonize with the best of them, and they showcased that on Sunday. They ended with the one-two punch of “Nice People” and “You Tell Me”, which was well received from the crowd.

Strandside played their set of psychedelic surf rock with great passion, and I really liked how they brought their new singer Nima Kazerouni up at various parts of their set. That truly kept things fresh throughout their performance and had many people talking about their show all night long. A highlight of the evening was the song “Knights Move North” that was played flawlessly. Looking forward to catching this South Bay act again soon.

Tall Tales and the Silver Lining had a stripped down band for their set on Sunday, but that didn’t stop Trever Beld- Jimenez from doing what he does best – captivating the crowd with his amazing voice and great stage presence. On this evening, Jimenez showcased his bass skills and really held his own while Tim Ramsey playing lap steel guitar helped with the overall tone of this set. A surefire highlight of their show was the beautiful cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Gypsy”.

Busy Living started things off with the title track from their first EP, Its A War Out There and didn’t let up from there. Mike Moonves led the band through many new songs, including one standout song of the entire night called “LYD” that included electronic drums, which blended perfectly with their sound.

Divola had the most high energy set of the evening, even though that energy was dark, twisted, and had Dion Tomasini in a black ski mask on drums for the whole show. Thomas Lynch has again proven himself behind the synth, and Justin Jacoby is the most animated on stage as he slays his bass ferociously. This is some seriously good psych-rock.

Shaky Feelin’ is a force to be reckoned with on the Ventura jam scene, and they brought their goods to L.A on Sunday night with standouts like “Train Station” and “Insider Mind”. Mark Masson on guitar has some ridiculous chops and Franklin Murphy on keys was truly a standout of the evening. They treated the crowd to two great covers by jam kings Phish in “Possum” and “Back on the Train”.